Practice Areas

Wills, Trusts, Estate Planning,
Tax Planning for Estates and Trusts

Estate and Tax planning is a broad area of practice that includes creating a plan specific to your individual needs to protect, manage, control, and transfer your wealth to your loved ones while minimizing tax.  In addition, even more importantly, you can plan to provide care for your own future in the event of your incapacity/disability or provide care for your minor children or children with special needs in the event of your death.  Everyone’s needs are different and we tailor our services to your needs.  Estate Planning is for everyone, whether you have a small estate and are just starting a family or you have a large estate that you want to benefit generations.  Some clients need very simple plans and some need much more sophisticated ones.

An Estate Plan is more than a collection of documents. An Estate Plan is a comprehensive analysis of your individual situation and a collection of your decisions embodied in a series of legal documents.

Most clients receive a comprehensive estate planning package that includes the following documents:

• Revocable Living Trust
• Trust Certification
• Trust Property Assignment
• Memorandum of Personal Property
• Pour Over Will
• Durable Power of Attorney
• Advance Healthcare Directive
• Transfer Deed (Primary Residence)

Some clients have additional needs such as an irrevocable life insurance trust, or special needs trust for their child, or other types of irrevocable trust.  These needs will be determined during the consultation process.

Probate

When an individual dies, leaving a will behind or dies intestate (without any estate planning), their estate has to go through Probate, which is a legal process supervised by a judge.  During the Probate process, the court establishes the validity of the will; the property of the deceased is identified, inventoried, and appraised; remaining debt and taxes are paid; and in conclusion the remaining property is distributed to the beneficiaries. If there is a will, this process is usually overseen by an executor who is named in the will.  If there is no will, the court will appoint an administrator.

Probate doesn’t have to be difficult. The probate process in California is commonly looked upon with fear and frustration because of horror stories about large and complicated probates that take years, cost huge sums of money and involve countless attorneys. Fortunately, most of these problems can be avoided with the right help.

Having a qualified and competent attorney as your guide can make the process run smoothly and efficiently. It can also help you avoid costly and time-consuming mistakes along the way. At Nabavi Law Firm, we take on the confusing and formal legal work so that you can concentrate on getting through the process as quickly and easily as possible.

In most cases, you will never need to see the court room or draft any documents. Your job is simply to deal with the practical side of the probate. If you are interested in learning more about the steps involved in the probate process, please contact us for a free consultation. We can help you deal with the complexities of probate, whether or not our office has drafted the original will.

In the event that an estate tax return (Form 706) is required, we can also prepare the return for the estate.

Trust Administration

When an individual dies, leaving a trust behind, Probate will not be necessary.  However, the trust must still be administered. Beneficiaries must be notified; the decedent’s assets must be gathered and invested; debts paid; creditors notified; taxes filed and paid; and finally, assets distributed to beneficiaries according to the trust provisions.  The administration of the trust is managed by the trustee.  However, frequently trustees lack the time, resources or knowledge to administer the trust. Sometimes certain assets are left outside of the trust and a court order is required to transfer them to the trust. We can help you deal with the complexities of trust administration, whether or not our office has drafted the original trust.

In the event that an estate tax return (Form 706) is needed for either Portability after the death of first spouse or because of the size of the estate, we can also prepare the tax return for the estate.